


For the Women in his Life

by Lisafer



Category: The Song of the Lioness - Tamora Pierce, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: F/M, Family, Romance, succession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-10 23:13:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/791283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lisafer/pseuds/Lisafer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They’ve already made many changes for the realm, but one more is necessary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For the Women in his Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seori](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seori/gifts).



“The priests are leading the public in prayers for another son,” Thayet said, her voice level. It wasn’t the usual evenness she had when she disagreed or felt disdain for the topic of conversation. This was the flatness of suppressing her emotions.

“I assumed they would,” Jon said. “The realm needs a future king, should something happen to Roald.” He knew that after such statements a man drew the sign for protection against evil on his chest, but he had stopped in recent years. Evil, he felt, came from within every man and woman. A ward against evil was a ward against human nature. Pretending evil was a monster rather than part of humanity made it seem rare instead of inevitable. 

“We have a chance,” she began, looking up at him with uncommon pleading in her eyes. There was a familiar jolt that he felt whenever he studied her face: a blend of attraction and astonishment that everything seemed to fall in such an order that they could be together. 

She swallowed and re-started. “We have a chance to change things – more important than the schools or taxes or the penal system.” 

Taking her hand, he sat before her on the footstool. He was several inches below her, a perfect picture of a young man courting his love. “We’ve done so much in very little time,” he said cautiously. “If we do too much, we will pay for it. Gary has pressed me countless times—”

“Is this your kingdom, or his?” Her mouth was set stubbornly, her chin raised slightly. 

“Thayet, you’re not thinking—” Jon stopped short, seeing his wife’s chest rise with a sharp inhalation. The problem with pregnancy was that she was less rational – but he couldn’t very well tell her that she was. When she was pregnant with Roald she had stopped speaking to him for two weeks straight. 

Her eyes filled will tears, which was far worse than the silent treatment.

“You don’t understand,” she sniffled. “Buri does. Alanna does. But you haven’t thought it through, have you?”

Clearly she was assuming that he would know what she was speaking of without ever having mentioned it to him in the past. In this state, he wasn’t quite sure what to expect of her, so he caressed her hand in both of his, and when he spoke his voice was as gentle as he could manage. “I can’t understand if you don’t tell me, Thayet.”

She leaned forward, placing her free hand atop his. “If we have a daughter, I still want her to be next in line for the throne, to potentially rule as queen regnant. I don’t want her to know what it’s like to spend every morning hearing the priests pray for sons, to feel that she’s worthless as anything but a pawn in her father’s or brother’s political game.”

“No child of ours will be useless,” he said gruffly. “No child of yours _could_ be.”

“I felt like I was, though,” Thayet whispered. “I spent every day listening to those prayers, knowing that I wasn’t what my father wanted or needed. Knowing that I’d just be thrown to some lowland noble to marry. I came here to make a difference.”

“And you have. You’re ruling this nation with me.”

“Yes,” Thayet said, squeezing his hand. Her tears, thankfully, never fell. “And I want any daughter of ours to have that same chance. How is it fair that a K’miri born princess of Sarain can rule Tortall, but a Conté girl cannot?”

“We might not have a girl. Couldn’t we wait?” Jonathan asked. With a moment of reflection, however, he answered his own question. “No, we would have to act now – so there’s no specific child associated with the change in law.”

Thayet nodded. “Laws are better in the hypothetical.”

“Gary would tell us that if our daughter were to marry into another royal family, she’ll have to give up her place in the line of succession. I can only imagine what it would feel like – to sign away the sense of duty to the realm that’s been cultivated from birth. ”

“But it would be her choice to do so,” Thayet replied. She stood up, slowly and carefully. She was halfway through her pregnancy, but the child inside her seemed to be growing faster than Roald did. She was already larger than either of them expected this far along. “It’s better to let a grown woman of marrying age decide her future than take a possibility away from her before she is born.”

Jon placed his hands on her waist, gently leaning his head against Thayet’s swollen belly. “You’re worth it, whoever you are,” he whispered to the child within. “I’m going to be dragged to hell and back by my nobles, but it’s the right thing to do.”

“You agree, then?” Thayet asked cautiously, gazing down at him.

“Yes. I wonder… I wonder if my parents would have done any differently, had they had the chance for another child. My mother was co-ruler, you know. It’s why she was killed.” Jonathan did not speak often of his parents, not even to his wife. But every decision he made seemed to be a direct reaction to the ones they had made years before.

He stood abruptly. “We’ll have to call Gary in here to work everything through – before we take it to the other ministers. He’s better than we are at anticipating reactions. This won’t be easy.”

“Important things never are,” Thayet said grimly. She looked down at her stomach and smiled wryly. “Well, most important things aren’t.” 

Jon dropped a light kiss on her forehead. “Thank you,” he murmured.

“Shouldn’t I be thanking you?”

“I always say that Alanna is my sword arm, fighting my battles for me. But you, Thayet…” He spread his hands before him, at a complete loss for words. “You remind me of the things I overlook, you remind me what I’m here to do. I wouldn’t be half the person I am without you in my life.” He tilted her face up to his and kissed her slowly and sweetly. 

“I love you, Jon,” she said when they broke apart. “And I’ll make sure we remind our daughter every single day how much you love _her_ , and what you’re willing to go through for her.”


End file.
